Take A Back Road
by tjmack
Summary: Sometimes life throws you a curve-ball, and sends you down a road that you hadn't envisioned for yourself. When a life-altering injury occurs to Ty. His and Amy's lives are forever altered.
1. In The Early Morning Light

_**A/N:** _This is one of two Heartland stories I'm working on. This was my first orignal idea (outside of my continuing one-shot, that is), and I hope you all enjoy this. I currently have three chapters written, and hope to keep myself ahead so that I can stick to the promise of 1 chapter a week. Enjoy! As always, please drop me a review to let me know if you like this.

* * *

Fear and terror spread through Amy's body as she heard Lou's blood curdling scream. Her body felt frozen to her bed, as Lou continued to call out her name. Just a few moments ago, Amy had been lost in her thoughts. Thoughts of Ty and Caleb, and the kiss she had just shared with the latter. She didn't understand why she had kissed Caleb. Logically, it made no sense, not when she had obvious feelings for Ty. Feelings that were not easily dealt with. Maybe that was the reason why. Because kissing Caleb had been easy, but dealing with her feelings for Ty was hard. Which was probably because she wasn't even entirely sure _how_ she felt about Ty.

Her sister's continued cries brought her back to the present and she was fearful of what she might find. It had been long ago that her father had risked his own life to save hers, and now ... this. Whatever it might be. Despite the fact that she didn't want to know what had Lou so upset, Amy yanked her covers back and fled her room quickly. She ignored the fact that she was clad only in her pajamas's, and was currently shoeless. None of that mattered. All that mattered right now was finding out what was wrong, and figuring out how to fix it.

As soon as the screen door flew open, Amy felt like the life had been drained from her. Her knees buckled as tears flooded her eyes. From her current angle she couldn't tell how bad it was, but with the way that Lou was reacting it most definitely wasn't good.

Ty lay in a lifeless heap at Lou's feet. One of the horses stamped it's hooves into the dirt. She couldn't be sure what exactly had happened, though she was pretty sure that he hadn't been thrown from the horse. Amy hadn't ever seen injuries this severe just from being thrown. It was almost as if he had thrown harshly against the wooden poles that served as the training pen. Paying no mind to the rocks digging into her bare feet, Amy ran forward and slid down to her knees. Tears clouding her vision, as she lay a hand against Ty's forehead. A small cut on the side of his head was oozing blood at an almost alarming rate, but it was the way his body was laying that disturbed Amy the most. His hips were turned to the left, while his upper body was turned to the right. It took everything in Amy to not immediately think the worst. Instead, she turned her attention to Lou, whose hand was now covering her mouth.

"What happened?" Amy managed to squeak out, her voice hoarse from the overwhelming amount of emotions.

"I don't know." Lou cried out, tears staining her cheeks. "Ty said he was going to work one of the horses. The next thing I knew, the horse was making a lot of noise and I couldn't see Ty." Lou paused as she choked back another sob. "Not until the horse moved."

Amy swiped the back of her hand against her cheeks. "Did you call for an ambulance?"

Lou nodded, "Grandpa did. He's waiting for them at the front of the drive. He said to make sure to keep Ty still."

Amy nodded, but didn't respond. Though she had never seen these types of injuries up close, Amy knew the precautions to take for any suspected neck or back injuries.

"He's going to be okay, Amy."

"You don't know that. Don't say things that you don't know. Things that you don't even believe yourself."

Lou hung her head, as she reached out her hand and clasped Amy's shoulder. "What I know, Amy, is that Ty is a fighter. He won't give up easily." Lou swallowed against the lump that formed in her throat. "He would never leave you that easily. Not by choice."

Tears rolled down Amy's cheeks as she took her eyes off of Ty for the first time since she came outside. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Lou gave a exasperated chuckle, "It's obvious that he's in love with you, Amy."

Amy's brow wrinkled, "No. You're wrong. He's dating Kit."

"That might be, but it doesn't mean he doesn't love you. That boy has been in love with you for a long time now. I don't understand how you could miss that."

In the distance a siren could be heard. Amy let Lou's statement drift to the back of her mind for the moment, her only priority was to ensure that Ty was going to be okay. That was all that mattered.

* * *

Amy decided after the first hour of waiting, that hospital waiting rooms sucked. All that happens in those hours was sitting … waiting … hoping … and praying. After hours of thinking the worse it's hard to keep hoping that maybe, just maybe the person that you cared about would pull whatever trauma that had brought them to the emergency room in the first place.

"He'll be fine." Jack finally mumbles out.

It had only been fifteen minutes since the ER doctor came out to inform them that they needed to rush Ty into the operating room. Amy's knees had buckled under her, and the only thing that kept her from falling was Jack's arms around her waist.

"Don't say that." She whispered softly. Tears still in her eyes. "You don't know that."

Jack nodded softly, before grabbing hold of her hand. "That might be true, Amy, but you have to have faith that Ty will fight to stay with us." The words were said with a strict confidence, something that Jack wasn't even sure he had inside of him. Especially not after he had seen Ty. The gash on the side of his head seemed to be the least of his worries after seeing the way that Ty's body was laying.

"That doesn't mean that he'll be okay, grandpa. You saw him. There is no way that he is walking away from that. Not without some kind of injury. I just, I feel like it's all my fault." Amy finally said, as she swallowed thickly around the new lump that had formed in her throat.

Jack sighed. He was exhausted. Hospital waiting rooms had a way of draining the energy … the life right out of a person. Frankly, Jack had spent far too much time inside of this hospital's waiting room to last him a lifetime. He had seen too many people disappear behind those doors and never come back out the other side. He didn't want to believe that Ty could fall victim to the same fate.

"Don't say that, Amy. You didn't do anything." Lou spoke, patting her sister's knee.

Amy laughed self-deprecatingly, as she shook her head. "But I did, didn't I? I've been so stubborn. Unable to forgive him for leaving, and now … I may never get the chance. It just hurts, Lou."

Lou choked back a sob, as she pulled Amy into her side. "Ty will be okay. He will come out of this. We will nurse him back to health if we have to, but he will be fine."

Amy's mouth made a move to open when a young nurse started to walk toward them.

"Family of Ty Borden?"

The three of them stood up and locked their arms around each other. The waiting for the nurse to come closer was killing them, but it was the exhausted look on her face that was the most disconcerting.

"How is he?" Jack found his voice first, and asked the same question that all of them had.

She sighed, "I'm not going to lie to you. It's not good. Aside from the mild abrasions that Mr. Borden has, all the rest of his injuries are fairly serious. He suffered a head injury that has caused some swelling and fluid build up, which is putting pressure on his brain. A little pressure is okay, the brain is able to absorb small amounts of pressure without too much damage, and since the swelling and fluid isn't severe, the doctor feels that it might be best to leave it be for the moment and see if it doesn't correct itself."

They all nodded, and waited patiently as the nurse gathered her thoughts.

"He also had some mild internal bleeding that the doctor had to go in and repair. So fair, that has been taken care of. It's Mr. Borden's spinal injury that has the doctor the most concerned. Right now there is too much swelling around his spinal cord for Doctor Cartwright to get an appropriate view of Mr. Borden's spine. Without that view, he can't say for certain how serious the injury to the spinal cord might be."

Jack patted Amy's shoulder before taking a small step forward. "What does that mean?" He asked, almost fearful for the nurse's answer.

"Depending on the amount of damage to Mr. Borden's spine, it could mean any number of things. It could be a mild injury in which he will recover from quickly or it could be more serious."

Amy swallowed thickly, tears in her eyes as she spoke, "You mean, he might be paralyzed?"

The nurse sighed. She knew that Doctor Cartwright wouldn't be happy if she speculated anything like that, but she knew that it was at least a possibility. "I won't lie. It's a possibility. There are different levels, from temporary to full body paralysis. As I said, we won't know more until the swelling on his spinal cord goes down. Do to the extensiveness of his injuries, Doctor Cartwright has decided that it's best to place Mr. Borden in a medically induced coma to allow his body the chance to heal."

A small sob broke loose from Amy's mouth, as she turned towards Lou, pulling her sister as close as she could.

"How long would he have to be in this coma?" Jack asked softly.

"Hard to tell. The doctor will have more information for you. Once they have Mr. Borden settled into a room, Doctor Cartwright will come down and speak with you further. He'll be able to answer any further questions that you have. I'm sorry I don't have better news."

With that, the nurse turned around and left the three of them broken in the middle of the waiting room.

* * *

Amy edged her way into the small hospital room. Her family was sitting out in the ICU's waiting room, while she sees with her own two eyes that Ty is indeed alive. The doctor's words still ringing in her ears. Specific sentences standing out more than others. _Medically induced coma until swelling and fluid go down. Worse case scenario is that he's paralyzed. Ready yourselves for the worse. Could make a full recovery._

She wasn't entirely sure what to think about all the information thrown at her, and all that information fell away as soon as she stepped into the room and saw him. Ty lay in the middle of the bed, looking almost too small in too big of a bed. His skin was so pale that he was almost as white as the blanket covering him. It wasn't right. Ty was always so tan, and vibrant. Always smiling and telling jokes with only the attempt to make her laugh.

Seeing him look so fragile. So broken. It tore at her already too fragile heart. The feelings that swelled up within her took her by surprise. She wasn't naïve. She knew that she had feelings for Ty … that she could possibly be in love with him, but she was so confused at the moment. She didn't understand how she could feel so strongly for Ty, and have kissed Caleb. Though it wasn't the same as the few kisses she had shared with Ty, there was some spark when she kissed Caleb. Could it be possible to have feelings for two guys at the same time?

With an exasperated sigh, Amy sat down in the chair by Ty's bedside. Either way, no matter whatever feelings she may or may not have for Caleb, Ty had her full and undivided attention. She was going to be by his side through-out his recovery. She was going to be there for him. No matter what might have happened in the past, no matter the fact that Ty was technically dating Kit, none of that mattered to Amy anymore. The only thing that mattered was Ty. He was her first and only priority right now.

With that thought settled in her mind, Amy reached forward and grabbed hold of his hand. "Ty … I don't know if you can hear me. The doctor said that you can … I just, I need you to be okay. We all need you to be okay. We need you to wake up. We need _you_. So, if you could just get better so that the doctor will let you wake up. Please. I just … I don't know what to do without having you near me. Knowing that you're there. That I can talk to you and that you'll listen and not judge me. God! I know I've taken advantage of you, Ty. I know that I've taken advantage of the fact that you're there. I guess I never thought something like this could happen. I am so sorry. For some reason I feel like this is my fault. That maybe I could have stopped it. I just … I want you to know that we're all here for you. We're all waiting for you to wake up and come back to us. We're all going to be here no matter what. We will make sure that you're taken care of, because we all love you so much, Ty. You're as much apart of this family as I am. Blood related or not, it doesn't matter. So, wake up, come back to us. We need you." Amy swiped her hand against her newly wet cheeks, before pressing a kiss to both Ty's hand and cheek, before leaning toward his ear. "I _need_ you."


	2. Darkest Before The Dawn

_**A/N:** _Apologies for how long this has taken. I've been super busy and haven't had time to upload the chapter. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

* * *

_**A week and a half earlier**_

* * *

The alarm beside Ty rang out loudly. He groaned, his eyes wide open, having not slept much the night before. His hand swung down harshly, smacking the alarm clock hard. Staring at the ceiling, Ty thought about his day. He could get up, work with some horses and do his chores, probably the smarter option due to Jack's recent warpath. Then again, he could 'call-in sick' and stay up in his room, call Kit … his train of thought wondered off. He couldn't help but to stop and think that maybe if he hadn't gotten involved with Kit, that if he had just been patient with Amy then maybe she would have come around.

He sighed, but he had wasted his time and practically shoved her into Caleb's arms. To be fair, he hadn't meant to listen in on Amy's conversation with Lou the night before. Quite frankly, if she didn't want to risk him hearing what she had to say, she shouldn't have had the discussion out on the front porch. Was it his fault that he happened to be walking toward the house at that exact moment? Of course, it was his mistake that he had stopped to actually listen in. It was he was to blame for hearing the words _Caleb _and _kiss_. So, technically, it was his error that had caused his heart to shatter last night.

Ty knew that he had no technical reason for his heart to be broken, Amy wasn't his girlfriend. Sometimes he wondered if Amy was even his friend. So, why should the fact that she had kissed another guy hurt him? It shouldn't, right? Wrong. It hurt and bad. The moment those words came from Amy's mouth, Ty realized how intense his love for Amy was. How much she truly meant to him, and how much he was only just pretending with Kit

He wasn't a bad guy … at least he hoped he wasn't. Ty cared about Kit, and he was certain he wasn't leading her on, but he could be wrong. Especially with his little revelation the night before.

"Damn." Ty sighed, as he pulled back the quilt that covered his legs. "Today is going to be long." He mumbled, as he fished out a clean pair of clothes. Glancing at the clock again, he realized that he should be able to get a shower in before Amy woke up. The longer he could put off seeing the better. Walking down the stairs and into the barn, he noticed a new horse in one of the stables. His shower forgotten for the moment, Ty wondered over to the new horse and smiled before looking at the horse's name. "Davidson. That's just an odd name for a horse. Don't you agree?" The horse snorted. "Well, Davidson, it says that you're a three year old buckskin Quarter Horse with behavioral issues." Ty stared at the horse. Some of things that Amy had taught him filtered to the forefront of his mind, as he patted the horse's snout. "Amy's going to have trouble with you, isn't she?" He asked the horse, who snorted for the second time. "That's what I thought. Well, then, I will get you set up in the round pen when I get done with my shower. You better be a good boy." The horse shook it's head as it neighed loudly. "Fantastic." Ty muttered before turning around and leaving the barn.

* * *

Ty walked carefully down the hallway toward the front door of the main house. His hair was mussed slightly from his quick attempt at towel drying it. His bare feet padded softly down the hardwood floor as his face scrunched slightly at the small water droplets that he left in his wake. He was pretty sure that he'd hear about that later on. At the moment it was the least of his worries. As he reached the kitchen, Ty heard footsteps behind him. Stopping dead in his tracks, Ty turned around, a sheepish smile on his face.

"Oh, Lou!" Ty whispered. "You scared me."

Lou's eyebrow shot up. "How's that? Wait … are you avoiding someone?" When he merely shook his head, Lou chuckled. "I'll be sure to tell Amy you stopped by then."

Ty's head hung, "Please, don't. Just, pretend you never saw me. I'm just going to go get Davidson set up in the round pen for Amy, then I'll start on my chores."

Lou's eyes rolled. "Sure. I never saw you." She watched as he quickly pulled his shoes on and exited through the front door. "I just wish you two would stop all this pretending, and just admit the truth. It's exhausting."

* * *

Ty hooked a lead rope up to Davidson's halter, before patting the horse's muzzle. "Your being awfully well behaved, for a horse with behavioral issues." Ty whispered, as he tugged lightly on the lead rope, and sighing in relief when Davidson walked forward without trouble. With quick, deliberate steps, Ty was able to get Davidson into the round pen without incident. "Who's a good boy?" Ty cooed, and shook his head. "Amy is really starting to rub off on me." He chuckled lightly, as he patted the horse's neck softly.

After a moment Ty removed the lead rope, and moved to hook up Davidson's bridle. As soon as Davidson saw the reins hanging from Ty's hands, he started to stamp his hooves into the dirt.

"Hey, easy, Davidson." Ty whispered softly. He knew that he should wait for Amy before attaching the horse's bridle with the way that Davidson was reacting, but Ty wanted to prove that he could be useful. "I'm not going to hurt you boy." Ty whispered tenderly to the horse as he raised his hands to begin the process of attaching the bridle.

Once his hands came in contact with Davidson's muzzle, the horse lost it. His hooves stamped the ground hard before he kicked up on his hind legs. Davidson released a shrill whinny before bringing his front legs back down and kicking up his back legs as Davidson began to buck. Ty felt like he was watching the scene in slow motion, as Davidson's buckskin colored body started to thrash around. Ty made a move to get out of the pen, but he moved too slowly. Davidson came around Ty's left side, his right back hoof nicked Ty in the stomach before Davidson swiveled around and his left hoof connected with Ty's back.

Ty cried out as his legs caved under him. He could see the ground coming up fast, but he felt like he had no control over his body. Before his head smacked against the firm dirt covered ground, the last thought in Ty's mind was the fact that he couldn't feel his legs. Suddenly his world went hazy before disappearing into a black mask of night. He could still hear Davidson neighing loudly as his world dimmed to nothing.

* * *

Amy sat in the same chair she had been sitting in every single day for a little over a week. Her hand clutched Ty's tightly, even though she knew he wouldn't wake up. Not until the doctor said it was safe. Today though, it felt different. Maybe because Dr. Cartwright had ran a new set of tests on Ty's brain yesterday and he promised to have the results sometime today. The doctor's words still flowed through her mind, exciting her and giving her hope. She knew it was foolish, but she couldn't squash the feeling that today would bring the first round of good news for Ty.

"_Hello again, Miss Fleming." Dr. Cartwright offered Amy a weary smile. _

"_Dr. Cartwright." Amy acknowledged the doctor with a weary nod of her head. _

_Exhausted had long since taken over Amy's psyche. She pulled her arms around her chest, her eyes drooping slightly. Amy had fighting against the pull of sleep since she had arrived at the hospital, just as soon as she had finished up her daily chores. All client horses had been put on hold, mainly because Amy refused to leave the hospital until visiting hours ended. She had to make sure that Ty knew that she was there. That she wasn't giving up on him. _

"_How is he?" She asked finally, as Dr. Cartwright looked over Ty's chart. _

_Dr. Cartwright sighed softly, before taking the extra seat in Ty's room. "Much the same, I'm afraid. However, I did run some new scans yesterday. I'm fairly certain that I will have the results by the end of business today. I hope to see some sort of improvement in these scans. I don't relish the thought of keeping Mr. Borden unconscious longer than necessary." _

_Amy shrugged her shoulders. "So, if there is improvement, then you'll let him wake up?" _

_Dr. Cartwright stood up and stretched the kinks from his lower back. "Yes, Miss Fleming. If he shows great improvement, then I will allow him to wake up. So long as I'm certain it won't cause him more harm than good. I'll be back later to set up another MRI and CT-Scan for Mr. Borden's spine. I'm hoping to get a better look at what's going on back there." _

_Amy nodded. "Thank you, Dr. Cartwright." _

_The doctor nodded wearily, before exiting the room. He just hoped he didn't give her false hope. _

"Hello." A voice called from behind Amy, causing her to turn her head.

"Hi." She answered, her eyebrows raising slightly.

"I'm here to collect Mr. Borden for his tests. It'll take a few hours to preform the tests that Dr. Cartwright has ordered. I can have the nurse call you when we bring him back?"

Amy sighed, a shower and nap did sound delightful. "Thank you."

The orderly nodded, "Can I give them a name and number?"

Amy smiled tiredly, "Amy Fleming. They have my number."

"Okay, I'll have them give you a call when we return Mr. Borden to his room."

Amy stood up and nodded, "Thanks." She pulled her cell from it's perch on her hip. She'd call Lou to come pick her up, shower quickly and take a nap. Hopefully when she returned the doctor would have some kind of answers for her.

* * *

Amy offered Lou a small smile, "Thanks." She whispered softly.

Lou patted her sister's knee, "Of course, Amy. Let us know what the doctor says, okay?"

Amy nodded, "I'll call you when I'm ready to leave." Amy waited a beat, as Lou nodded in acknowledgment, before jumping from the truck. "It'll be good news, right?"

Lou shrugged, she didn't want to give Amy false hope. "We just have to have faith that Ty is strong enough to overcome this. No matter what the doctor says, we're going to do everything we can to get Ty back to the man he was."

Amy nodded, "Thanks, Lou. I know I haven't been the easiest person to live with the past week. I appreciate everything you've done for me. I'm so glad you're here."

Lou smiled. "Me too, Amy … and you're welcome."

With that, Amy shut the door to the truck, and watched as Lou pulled away from the hospital. She wouldn't admit out-loud, but Amy kind of wished she didn't have to face Dr. Cartwright on her own. Shoving that thought, along with all her nervousness and fear to the back of her mind, Amy squared her shoulders and walked into the hospital.

Her movements were quick and deliberate. She knew the way to Ty's room like the back of her hand. In fact, Amy was certain that she could be blindfolded right now and still find her way to Ty's room. While she knew the familiar twists and turns of the hallway, it was her heart that always seemed to lead her to Ty's room. Each step forward always caused her heart to beat just a little faster.

Her footsteps slowed as Ty's room came into view, a frown on her face. Dr. Cartwright stood outside of Ty's room, as he stared down the hallway at her, like he was waiting for her. Doctor's never waited for a _loved one _because of good news. Her frown deepened at the nearly troubled expression on Dr. Cartwright's face. Her fear and nervousness made a reappearance, but she tried her best to keep them out of her expression.

"Dr. Cartwright." She called.

"Hello, Miss Fleming." Dr. Cartwright acknowledged her reappearance.

Sighing, Amy placed her hands on her hips. "Alright, cut to the chase. What happened, what's wrong?"

Dr. Cartwright shook his head, even as the edge of his lips pulled up in a barely perceptive smile. "Well, Miss Fleming, I have good news and bad news."

With a slight shake of her head, Amy looked up at him with her arms crossed over her chest. "Of course you do."

He continued, "I got both of Mr. Borden's tests back. I am happy to say that the swelling and fluid build up on his brain has gone down significantly." Amy couldn't stop the smile that broke out on her face. Even as the words _bad news_ rang in her head. "We're about to wean Mr. Borden off of the medications that are keeping him in his induced coma. With any luck, he'll be awake by sometime later tonight, if not early tomorrow morning. Of course, you must keep in mind that he did suffer a brain trauma, so that time-line is just a guess. It could be as long as three days or even a week before he's fully awake and conscious of his surroundings." Dr. Cartwright hung his head, as he awaited Amy's response. He had purposely left out certain details like the possibility of amnesia. It was a bridge they'd cross if it came to it, but he didn't see the need to worry the young girl over something that might not even be a problem.

Amy nodded, "Okay, I understand. That's the good news, right?" Dr. Cartwright nodded. "Good, because that's great news. It's what we've been waiting for. Him to wake up."

Dr. Cartwright sighed, "The bad news is that the swelling on Mr. Borden's spine was covering up a pretty nasty injury. Granted, until he is conscious I won't know the full amount of damage done. There is a small chance that we could repair the damage with an extensive surgery. Of course, we are dealing with the spine, not only is that a sensitive area on it's own, but you have to account of all the nerves that converge on the spine, especially the lower half of your back. The surgery could cause more harm then it fixes. Of course this will be Mr. Borden's choice once he's awake."

Amy's hand covered her mouth for a moment, tears pressing against her eyes. "Are you saying that he's paralyzed?"

Dr. Cartwright shrugged, "I am saying that it is impossible to know for sure until he wakes up and I can access the damage. For all I know, he could have complete and total feeling in his lower extremities, or he might not be able to at all. Either way, it's almost impossible to know if it's permanent unless we can go in and at least see the damage up close."

Amy nodded, "Okay. I understand. Is it alright if I go in to sit with him?"

Dr. Cartwright nodded, "Of course, Miss Fleming. If anything, it will only help to bring him around quicker. Knowing that he has someone here that cares."

Amy pulled her arms around her midsection as she shuffled into the room. Tears were still in her eyes, and she felt numb. The only thing running through her mind was the word _paralyzed_. No matter what anyone else said, she couldn't help but place the blame on herself. Every kept telling her that there was nothing she could have done to stop it from happening, but that wasn't true, and Amy knew it. She could at least have put some sort of warning down on Davidson's chart. She could have prevented Ty's accident, but she had been careless and now Ty could be paralyzed. She couldn't be more angry at herself in that moment if she tried, and she wouldn't blame Ty if he felt the same way when he woke up.


	3. I'm Alright, If You're Alright

Slowly, his senses started to come back to him. He felt like he had the world's worst hangover, except the pain wasn't designated to any one area. Everything hurt. He felt like he had been asleep for only a few minutes. He tried to recall the last thing that he remembered, but even trying to think made his head throb like a steady heartbeat was pounding beneath his skin. With a concentrated effort, Ty tried to open his eyes, but found that it was difficult. They would open only long enough for him to get a tiny glimpse of what was going on around him only to shut again.

Though muddled, as if his head was underwater, Ty could hear voices. He couldn't quite make out what was being said, but he was fairly certain that he heard his name once or twice. It was like they were trying to call him back to the surface. He fought with everything in him to clear out the muddiness of his brain and hearing, so that he could at least figure out who was trying to wake him up.

With everything in him, he hoped it was Amy. He knew it wasn't right because of Kit, but he couldn't help what he felt for the beautiful blonde, horse crazy girl that he had long since fallen in love with.

Slowly the murkiness started to clear away, and he could pull out one voice. The other's were merely background noise, compared to her almost angelic voice.

"Ty." She called, and he tried to fight his way back to her.

With one last attempt, Ty's eyes fluttered open and didn't slip back closed. His breathing hitched, when he noticed the breathing tube in his mouth. Amy stood up from the chair that she had been sitting in. Softly, she brushed back his unruly brown hair.

"Hey, it's okay. You're okay. The doctor is going to take the tube out, alright?" She waited a moment as Ty simply blinked at her. He was becoming nervous at the fact that his body wasn't responding to his commands the way that it was supposed to. He tried, and failed to remember what had happened that would cause him to end up in a hospital. "Okay, good. You have to stay calm, Ty." He blinked again.

Amy made a move to step back, but Ty's hand clasped hers just a little tighter. He stared at her, willing her to not leave his side. It terrified him that he needed her so badly, but it was the truth. He needed her to tell him that everything was alright, because in that moment everything did not feel alright.

"Ty," Dr. Cartwright called, trying to gain his attention. Ty's eyes reluctantly moved from Amy's calming blue eyes, to the murky brown ones of Dr. Cartwright. "Here's how this is going to work, okay? When I tell you to, you need to breathe out hard, so that I can pop the tube out, okay?" Ty merely blinked his acknowledgment, as the doctor nodded. "Amy, you're gonna need to help keep him calm. Sometimes patients freak out when the tube starts to come out."

"I understand," Amy answered, as her thumb rubbed circles on Ty's hand.

The doctor turned his attention back to Ty, "On the count of three, Ty. One. Two. Three." On three, Ty breathed out has hard as he could handle and watched as Dr. Cartwright pulled the tube from his throat. He felt tears form in his eyes as his throat burned with the intensity of being on fire. "The nurse is bringing you in some ice chips. I'm going to leave you be with your loved ones for a little while. I'll be back in about an hour to discuss somethings with you, and your family, okay?"

Everyone nodded, as the doctor turned to leave. After the door closed behind him, everyone in the room pulled their chairs a little closer to Ty's bed. The doctor had informed them to leave out any details of the accident and his potential injuries until he could be there to answer questions.

"How're you feeling?" Amy asked, her thumb still tracing circles on the back of Ty's hand.

Ty looked around the room, and felt a tear slip down his cheek. Their entire family and friends were scattered around the room, even Caleb was there. It was more than Ty could have ever asked for, and he didn't even know why they were there.

"Pain." Ty forced out, before grimacing as a new wave of pain washed over him.

They all shared looks of either pity or sadness, Ty wasn't exactly sure which. "Look, you're going to be okay. I promise. For now, just rest. We'll have the nurse give you some pain medicine when she brings in your ice chips." Ty stared at Amy, and almost fearful look in his eye. She smiled softly at him, "And don't worry. I'll be here when you wake up."

* * *

Slowly, almost painfully so, Ty woke back up. It wasn't as difficult as it was the first time, and Ty plans to find out why it was so hard for him to wake up the first time around. Looking around the room, Ty notices that the room has thinned quite a bit. In fact, only three familiar faces remain, but there was only one that he truly cared about seeing in that moment.

"Amy." He squeaked out, his throat burning dry again.

"See, I told you that I'd still be here." She smirked at him, as she glided up to the bed and lifted a cup to his lips. "Slow sips, Ty." She chaste as he tried to gulp down the ice cold liquid.

"Sorry," he mumbled, his voice sounding a little closer to normal after he had slowly drained the small cup.

"The doctor will be in shortly. He came by earlier, but none of us wanted to wake you up. You were sleeping so peacefully."

Ty yawned, the last tendrils of sleep releasing it's grip on his psyche. He turned his attention to Amy, tears edged into his eyes. "Amy, what's wrong with me?"

The look on Ty's face coupled with his words broke Amy's heart. She had never seen him look so vulnerable. So utterly broken. Her mouth bobbed open and closed a couple of times, at a loss of what to say. Just as her mouth edged open again, the door to Ty's room opened with a squeak. Everyone turned their attention to the new member in the room. Amy sighed in relief at the sight of Dr. Cartwright.

"Mr. Borden, it's nice to see that you awoke on your own." Dr. Cartwright said, as he jotted down a few notes. "How're you feeling?"

Ty attempted to shrug, but the movement caused pain to flair in every ounce of his body. "Sore, I guess."

Dr. Cartwright nodded, "That's to be expected. I need to ask you a few questions, Mr. Borden." He waited for Ty to acknowledge him before continuing. "First, on a scale of one to ten, how severe is your pain?"

Ty's eyebrows rose, "A seven?" He questioned.

Dr. Cartwright just nodded, and scribbled so more notes on his clipboard. "Okay, good. The next few questions might scare you, Mr. Borden, but I do ask you to remain calm."

Ty's eyes widened, his heartbeat already starting to speed up. He turned his wide eyes to Amy, who merely grabbed his hand. "I'm right here, Ty." She murmured softly.

He seemed to relax under her touch, and waited for Dr. Cartwright to continue. "Mr. Borden, can you feel this?" He asked, as he ran the edge of his pen against Ty's foot and waited as Ty shook his head _no_. "Alright. How about this?" The doctor asked, as he ran the edge of his reflex hammer against the bottom of Ty's foot.

"No. That's not right. I should be able to feel that!" Ty's voice grew louder with each word.

"Please, Mr. Borden, stay calm. I will explain everything just as soon as I finish with my examination."

Ty sighed, as he settled back against his pillow. "Sorry." He mumbled softly.

The doctor seemed to ignore him as he took his reflex hammer and tapped against Ty's Achilles tendon. He frowned when his foot didn't kick with the added pressure. Pausing long enough to jot down something else on his clipboard, Dr. Cartwright then used his hammer to tap Ty's knee. An almost gleeful expression crossed his features when Ty's leg jerked slightly. It wasn't a great reaction, but it was a reaction. He quickly did the same to Ty's left leg and received a slightly better reaction than his right. Once he seemed to be happy with his examination of Ty's legs, Dr. Cartwright moved on to Ty's head. He looked at Ty's eyes and forced him to follow the light, before humming and writing down more notes.

"Will you please tell me what's going on now?" Ty practically begged. The mere fact that he didn't even know why he was in the hospital was causing him distress, but to know realize that he had practically no feeling in his legs was causing his heart rate to continually raise.

"Of course, Mr. Borden. Is there anything that you can remember about your accident?"

Ty glanced around the room, before staring at the doctor. "What accident?"

Dr. Cartwright nodded, "That's quite alright. It's actually perfectly normal for anyone with a head trauma to not remember the accident that caused it. Please, Mr. Borden, don't be alarmed. Your examination actually went much better than I was expecting. You are by no means completely healed, far from it, I'm afraid, but you are doing much better. You had an accident involving a horse that caused pretty major trauma to your head, midsection, and spine..."

"What kind of accident?" Ty asked, pleading with him for answers instead of more wordplay and mind games.

"I am not sure of the details of the accident. All I know is that involved a horse. You are more than welcome to ask your loved ones questions about that once I've finished up." The doctor spoke softly, pausing to look over his notes before continuing. "When you were brought in, we had to rush you into emergency surgery to stop some internal bleeding. Afterwords we ran you through an MRI and CT-Scan to check out your head and back. The swelling on your spine was too great to see if there was any damage to your spine, however your brain had some fluid and swelling. Because of that and the fact that we weren't sure what kind of spinal injury we might be dealing with, we put you into a medically induced coma. We had to leave you in that state for a little over a week, until the swelling and fluid on your brain went down."

Ty merely stared at the doctor, "Uh – okay. I – uh – what does all this mean?"

"Well, it could mean a few different things. We were finally able to get a decent look at your spine, and there is some damage. Obviously we weren't able to know what that damage might have done to your body until you woke up. Now, because you do have some reflex in your legs, I'm pretty sure that you won't need surgery to repair the damage. If we're very careful with your rehab and take it slow, I'm fairly certain that you will get feeling back in your legs."

"Can I walk?"

Doctor Cartwright shook his head, "I'm afraid not, son. Not right now. In a year? It is quite possible. I honestly don't believe that your paralysis is permanent. At least as long as you don't injure your spinal cord any worse than it already is. If you try to do too much too quickly, you will cause yourself far more harm then good. You have to be gentle when dealing with spinal injuries like this. Another thing is that we will have to monitor the swelling on your brain. The fluid has completely receded, which is great, but there is still some swelling. Again, the brain is a very fragile part of the body. If you try to do too much, try to recall what happened to you, it'll cause more harm then good. It is better to just let that stuff come back on it's own, and too be completely honest, some people never regain the memory of what happened to them and that is completely normal."

Ty sighed, "Is that all?" His face dropped, any hope that might have littered his face was completely gone.

"For now, yes. A nurse will be in shortly to administer some more pain medication, and I'll be back to check on you in a few hours before I leave for the night. Trust me, Mr. Borden, this is the best case scenario considering how severely you were injured."

Ty merely nodded, and waited for the doctor to leave. "Jack, Lou, can I have a moment alone with Amy please?" Ty asked softly.

Both nodded, before vacating the room. As soon as the door shut behind them, he turned his tear-filled eyes to Amy. "Please, tell me what happened."

Amy nodded, "I'll tell you what I can, Ty. I was still in bed when it happened." He sat still, the only movement was a lone tear that slid down his cheek. "From what I could gather from how we found you. You had tried to get Davidson ready for his training session..." Amy let her sentence trail off. The sad look on Ty's face broke her heart all over again. "It was my fault, Ty. None of this would have happened if it weren't for me. So please, just be angry with me."

Ty's brow furrowed. "What are you talking about, Amy?"

"Davidson, he had some pretty funky behavioral problems. In fact, most of the time he was a perfectly well behaved horse. That is until you tried to attach his bridle or place a saddle on him. His owner had no explanation for the behavioral issues since Davidson used to be mild-mannered. I should have written on his stall what behavioral issues that he had. It was my fault."

Ty squeezed Amy's hand. "I don't blame you, Amy. This isn't your fault. From the way it sounds, it was just a freak accident. That is not your fault."

"Then how's come it feels like it is?" Amy asked, as she wiped away the lone tear that slid down Ty's cheek.

"Because, Amy, that is just who you are. When someone is hurt, and you feel like there was a way you could have prevented it, then you blame yourself. Even if the blame doesn't belong to you."

Amy sighed, "I made you a promise while you were unconscious, Ty. I don't know if you heard me, I was here every single day talking to you. Just sitting here with you, so that you didn't think that you were alone. The day that you were brought in, I made you a promise, one that I vowed to never break. I am here for you, through all of this. We all are, but I want to be there for you every single step of the way. No matter what. You can count on me."

Ty offered Amy a weak smile. "I never doubted that for a minute, Amy. I've always been able to count on you."

Amy squeezed his hand reassured. "They'll kick me out soon, but I'll be back tomorrow."

Ty's brow wrinkled, "You don't have to, Amy. I'm sure you've gotten behind on your work."

Amy shrugged, "I've put a hold on client horses for the time being. At least until your back home."

Ty smiled more genuinely, "_Home_. That sounds nice."

* * *

Ty chuckled lightly at the television before glancing at the clock on the wall. Today was the day. He was going home. Overall he had been in the hospital for a little over two weeks, and the doctor finally felt comfortable enough to let him go home. Ty was pretty sure it had something to do with worry about him falling back into a coma or something, but he couldn't be completely sure. When the door to his room squeaked open, Ty turned his head toward the new person in his room. He had been expecting Amy, it was like a daily ritual. She would come not too long after visiting hours started and stayed until they were over. Sometimes other people would pop in from time to time, but mostly it was just the two of them hanging out. It became familiar, like their relationship had been before he screwed everything to hell when he left her behind.

So when he looked up and saw Jack enter his room instead of Amy, to say that he was disappointed would be an understatement. He faked a smile, it wasn't that he wasn't happy to see Jack, because he was.

"Hey, Jack." Ty mumbled quietly, as he fumbled with the bedside controller to turn off the television.

"Ty." Jack answered, dipping his head slightly.

Ty watched Jack closely, as the older man sat down in the chair closest to Ty's bed. It was the closest that the two of them had been since Ty had woken up and Ty could see what his hospital stay was doing to Jack. His face was drawn, and almost complete look of exhaustion covered his face. His eyes were drooped slightly and red-rimmed.

"Jack, have you been sleeping?"

Jack chuckled, and shrugged. "As well as I can. Just been busy with chores and such."

Ty frowned, of course Jack was picking up the slack. He hadn't lost one person, he had lost two since Amy spent most of her days with Ty.

"I'm sorry." Ty mumbled.

Jack waved his hand. "No need for apologies, Ty. I'm just glad that your well enough to come home. You gave us all quite the scare..." Jack sighed, as his sentence trailed off. "How're you really?"

Ty raised an eyebrow, as he stared at Jack. "What do you mean?"

Jack removed his hat and perched it on his knee before settling back into the chair. "You know damn well what I mean, Ty. You can lie to those girls and Caleb. You can put on that brave face, and act like what has happened isn't bothering you. What you can't do, is lie to me. So spit it out. How're you really doing with all of this?"

Ty sighed, "I'm fine, really. I just – it sucks. I mean, that's the truth. I'm partially paralyzed, but it's not permanent, so I just have to play the _take it easy _card for a while. Since when have I been a '_take it easy_' kind of person? I don't do easy. I don't do, sitting in a chair or bed all day either. I like to do stuff, I like to stay busy, so it's going to be hard..."

Jack shook his head, "Okay, that's all well and fine, but you're holding back, son. Just talk to me. Whatever you say, it's between us. No one else has to know, but you can't just bottle it all up. It's not healthy for you."

Ty groaned. He most definitely wasn't a talk about his feelings type of person either, especially when it came to other guys. "I'm nervous and scared. I'm worried. I mean, Doctor Cartwright said it's not permanent, he says that I'll be able to walk again. I just – what if that's not the case? I just hate to think that one little mistake might determine my entire future."

Jack nodded, "See, don't you feel better?" He quirked an eyebrow.

Ty merely chuckled before groaning, his arm draping over his midsection tenderly. "Yeah, except for the pain."

Jack sighed, "On our way back to Heartland, we'll stop and fill your prescription."

Ty nodded, "Thanks, Jack. If you don't mind me asking, where is Amy?"

Jack chuckled this time. "I was wondering how long it would be before you asked. I made her stay behind and help finish up the preparations for your return home."

"What preparations?" Ty asked quizzically.

Jack shook his head, "Now, don't get too awfully upset." Jack paused, taking in Ty's expression before continuing on. "Aside from the things that we needed to change around or fix to make your living situation more comfortable, Lou is planning a big dinner celebration for your return."

Ty rolled his eyes, "Of course she is," he chuckled. Honestly, he was flattered that Amy's family was going to so much trouble to make sure that he was comfortable. "So, I suppose I won't be living in the loft room any longer?"

Jack laughed loudly, "You think you can wheel that chair up that many stairs?" Jack raised an eyebrow. When Ty merely shook his head _no_, Jack continued. "You'll be staying in the guest room until further notice. Mallory was going to take the loft room, but I didn't feel comfortable having her sleeping by herself, so far away from anyone in case she needed something – or something happened. So, she'll be sleeping on the couch."

Ty frowned, "Well, now I feel bad. I'm kicking her out of her room."

Jack shrugged, "She offered. We were trying to figure out how to fit a cot into the living room for you, since I know that couch wouldn't help your back none."

Ty nodded, "Still. I don't want to inconvenience anyone."

"Ty, you're never an inconvenience. You hear me?"

Ty nodded, as the room slipped into a comfortable silence as they waited for Dr. Cartwright to release Ty from his hospital stay.


	4. We All Fall Apart

_**A/N:** _Apologies for the long wait. I hit a bit of writer's block with this chapter. Always thankful to my beta CelticTrinity for being absolutely awesome!

* * *

Amy stood in the living room, handing Lisa a cup full of coffee when she heard the pickup pull up into the driveway. A smile broke out onto her face, as Scott and Caleb rushed out the door to help Ty out. She walked slowly, toward the kitchen, and leaned her shoulder against the wall. It was taking everything inside of her to not run out that door to help. To see Ty, to hug him. However, Jack had called ahead and told Lou to keep Amy in the house. That it was Ty's only request.

"How hard is this for you?" a voice wafted from her right.

Amy craned her neck and sighed. Ashley stood beside her, her arms folded over her chest. Amy shrugged, trying to play off her nonchalance.

"It's not that bad. I just saw him yesterday." Amy's voice was tight, her eyes never leaving the front door.

"That's funny, Amy. Considering that you've spent every waking moment at the hospital with Ty. Who knows though, maybe Ty didn't want you to meet him outside because he's sick of you being stuck to him like glue."

Amy closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose. "No. I'm pretty sure that isn't the reason, Ashley."

Ashley shrugged, "I think I hit the nail on the head."

"Ashley, so lovely of you to make it." Lou spoke softly, her eyes narrowed slightly, as she put her hands on Ashley's shoulders. "I see you don't have a drink. Let's remedy that." As Lou pulled Ashley away from Amy's side, she sent her sister a backward glance. Lou smiled softly when Amy mouthed thank you.

"Alright, everyone back up a bit. Give the man some room." Caleb called, his voice loud enough to catch everyone's attention.

Everyone that was around the door took a few backward steps, as a grunt was heard at the door. After a moment, Ty wheeled himself into the kitchen and noticed that the kitchen table was now missing. He glanced around the area as well as he could see and sighed. Things definitely looked different. His attention turned to those around him, as a chorus of _glad your feeling better_ filled the small room, followed by pats on his shoulder.

It didn't take long before Ty felt slightly claustrophobic, and sent Jack a sideways glance.

"Okay, everyone. Ty appreciates the sentiment, but how about we let him get himself settled for a little bit." A smile curved onto Jack's face before he spoke again. "Amy, can you help Ty get set up in the guest room?"

Amy nodded quickly, before moving forward and motioning Ty forward. He wheeled himself behind Amy, until they came to the spare room. Ty groaned as he looked around. The lift hooked to the bed was bad enough, but even the closet had been altered to be suited toward his needs. He wasn't sure how he felt about all the change. About all the work that was put forth to make his life easier.

"This – it's too much. I mean, I appreciate it, I do, but I don't even want to think about how long work was ignored to get all this done."

Amy sighed, and knelt down beside Ty. She took his hand into hers and smiled. "No, Ty, it's not too much. It's nowhere near enough. All of this, it was partially my idea. I mean, obviously we knew that we would have to make some changes to help you out, but I decided that we needed to do more than just make logical changes. That we needed to do something to make your life here easier."

Ty stared at Amy for a moment, before realization hit him. She was still blaming herself for what had happened. "Amy, this is not your fault! I don't know how else I can say the words so that you'll believe them. I was the one that decided to put the horse in the round pen. I was the one that decided to try to put the bridle on Davidson. Those were my choices, and those choices led me to where I am."

Amy's eyes fell to the floor as she spoke. "That doesn't change the fact that I could have done more. Maybe if I had a better warning on his chart, this wouldn't have happened."

Ty groaned, he felt like he was arguing with a brick wall. "You don't know that, Amy. I might have still done it. My head was a mess that day. I don't remember a lot of what happened, but I do know that my mind was everywhere but in that pen with that horse. That is no ones fault but my own. Please, understand that. I don't blame you, and you shouldn't blame yourself."

Amy knew deep down that he was right. She had no reason to know that Ty was going to try to set Davidson up in the round pen. She had no reason to believe that he would ever try to put a bridle on a horse she was working with. He knew how dangerous some of those horses could be, since he had seen her work with them plenty of times in the past. She knew all of that was true, but when it all came down to it, she still couldn't believe it. Part of her still believed that she had something to do with his accident, even if it wasn't directly.

"I'll work on it."

Ty smiled softly, "You better. Now, how does this bed lift thing work? Please tell me that it's intended use is so that I don't need help getting into bed."

Amy chuckled, as she started to explain it's functionality.

* * *

That night Amy lay on her back. The moonlight filtering in from her window, bathing the furthest wall in an eerie white glow. Her eyes laid open, as she stared at the ceiling. Three hours she had been laying there, waiting for sleep to come, knowing that there was no way that it ever would. Though everyone knew that having Ty in the house would be easiest for everyone involved, Amy hadn't stopped to think of the kind of havoc having him in the house would reek on her sleeping pattern.

Just knowing that he was there, two doors down, sound asleep was enough to send her nerves into overdrive. That mixed with the knowledge that at any moment he might need something, or someone, kept her alert. Though it was killing her to just lay there and think of how nice sleep sounded, Amy knew better than to leave her room. Her grandfather was a light sleeper, and he would know she was up. She also knew that he would poke and prod at her until she told him what was keeping her from sleeping. Then there was Mallory. Amy didn't want to risk waking the young girl up, not when she so willingly gave up the comforts of a bed so that Ty would have a comfortable place to sleep while he recovered.

A sigh erupted from her mouth, as she twisted to her side. Shoving her arm under her pillow, Amy shoved her face into the pillow, trying to at least get comfortable enough to sleep. After a few minutes of wriggling under the blankets, Amy found her body relaxing slightly. A few minutes later, she found her eyes drifting close, and smiled at the prospect of sleep. Just as her eyes did their final droop, Amy heard an ear-splitting scream shatter her perfect thoughts of sleep.

It took her all of two minutes to rip the blankets from around her body and start padding down the hallway. It didn't take a genius to know where the scream was coming from, and Amy made a beeline for Ty's room. She was so focused on getting to his room, that she nearly collided with her grandfather.

"Sorry, Grandpa." Amy muttered as she yanked Ty's bedroom door open.

His eyes were wide open, as sweat poured off his forehead. Amy's heart dropped at the sight, as she watched him drag ragged breaths in through his mouth. She knew that he had to be breathing far too hard for the stitches that still lined his right side into the middle of his abdomen.

"Hey, you're okay." Amy cooed, as she stepped past Jack, and took a seat next to Ty on his bed. She grabbed his discarded shirt from the floor and dabbed at Ty's forehead, as she tried her best to get him to calm down. "You're alright. It was just a dream. You're safe."

Ty's wide eyes scanned the room until they landed on Amy's features. Slowly, his breathing slowed and his eyes closed. His cheeks turned red as he shook his head.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to wake anyone." Ty whispered, and Amy could see the embarrassment on his face.

"Don't worry about that, Ty. Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?" Amy prodded softly, as she wiped the last remaining sweat beads from his face.

"No. I'm alright. Just a bad dream. Nothing to worry about."

Amy craned her neck to look at her grandfather, and could tell that he wasn't buying what Ty was saying either. She also knew that neither of them could push Ty, that it would only cause him to close himself off from them. Instead, she merely nodded as she softly pushed aside a few stray strands of Ty's hair from his forehead.

"It's time for your pain medication, if you think you need it?" Jack asked.

Ty stared at him for a moment. Part of him wanted to reject the medication. His stomach did hurt, but it wasn't so bad that he couldn't stand it. However, Ty knew that the medication would help him sleep, and he hoped that it sent him into a dreamless sleep. From the deep purple circles under both Jack and Amy's eyes, he knew that neither of them had been sleeping well. "Yeah, thank you, Jack." Ty whispered, as he laid back against his pillows.

Amy stood up, and pulled his blankets back up to his shoulders before pressing a kiss to his forehead. "If you need me, just yell." Amy whispered, before she disappeared from his room.

Ty wriggled himself into the bed as well as he could, and waited until Jack brought him the pain medication. Amy's words still lingering in the air, and he couldn't help but feel his heart warm at the thought of Amy being there, no matter what.

* * *

Amy put the brake in place on Ty's wheelchair. She eyed him carefully, his emerald eyes gazing at her softly. She switched her view from Ty to the small detachable chair that they had put into the bathtub before Ty had returned home. Amy knew she should probably get her dad or grandpa's help before lifting Ty onto the chair.

He watched her with a quizable look on his face. It took him a moment, but he finally realized what her dilemma was. How was she going to lift him onto his bathing seat. Sighing loudly, Ty made sure he had her attention before speaking. "Look, Amy. I can get myself onto that seat, you can go."

Amy shook her head. "The doctor said that you needed to take it slow and be easy on your back, Ty. I am fairly certain that lifting yourself onto a bathing seat isn't slow or easy."

Ty groaned, his frustration growing. It had been the one thing he had dreaded when he learned that Jack had planned to move him into the guest room at the ranch. He knew the moment he got back to Heartland that Amy would hover over him. Watching his every move. Like this whole situation wasn't hard enough on him, but Amy had to baby him too?

"Please. Just let me do it myself. I feel helpless enough as it is, Amy." He tried to keep his tone neutral. He tried to keep the frustration out of his voice. Amy was only trying to help and he did appreciate it, he really did, but there are some things that a man just doesn't want help with. Bathing yourself is one of those things.

"What if something happens, Ty? What if you fall and aggravate your injuries? I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing that I allowed you to cause even more damage to yourself."

Ty took a deep breathing, trying to control the growing frustration, but it wasn't working. He flexed his hands repeatedly, trying to ease his jumbled up nerves into calming down. Nothing was working. He was afraid to speak, fearful of what might come out of his mouth. Instead, he merely stared at her. As bad as it was, he was more willing to have Jack or Tim help him bathe - hell he'd even take Caleb, over Amy. She didn't seem to understand just how embarrassing this was for him, and he couldn't find the words to explain it to her.

"Now, just wrap your arms around my neck..."

"Just go!" Ty yelled, his emerald eyes holding a hint of anger in them. "What makes you think that you are even remotely capable of lifting me from one chair to another? Hell, Jack even has a hard time with it, and he's a man! Just, go, Amy, please. Just leave me alone." When she didn't budge, he glared at her. He knew the words that were about to come out of his mouth would hurt her deeply, and he already hated himself for it. A couple of quick, angry breaths, and he spoke again. "This, all of it, is your fault. You said so yourself, Amy! What, you didn't do a good enough job? You didn't completely paralyze me? You want to finish the job? Just go! Leave me the hell alone. I don't need your help, and I sure as hell don't want it!"

Tears filled Amy's eyes, as she realized that the truth was finally coming from Ty's mouth. She knew that he had only been placating her before when he swore it wasn't her fault. It had been wrong of her to agree with him, letting herself believe, even if just for a moment, that he was right. Now though, the truth came screaming out and for reasons beyond her knowledge, the truth hurt more than she ever could have imagined.

With her hands held up in defense, as she started to back away from Ty, she whispered. "You're right. I'm sorry. I'll just go grab someone else."

Ty's mouth bobbed open, the apology on his tongue as she slipped out the door. Swallowing thickly, Ty bit his lower lip to keep the tears at bay. He didn't deserve to cry, not after what he did to Amy. She might never forgive him for what he just did, and he wouldn't blame her if she didn't but he would hate himself forever for putting the hurt back on her face.

* * *

Ty's face scrunched up as he came back to the present. He was still in his wheelchair, sitting in the bathroom. Amy had said she would get someone else to help him out, but he wasn't thinking about that anymore. All he could think about was apologizing to Amy. That look on her face as she had backed out of the bathroom would haunt his dreams for many nights to come. He hated hurting her, and it seemed that every time she tried to help him, all he did was hurt her.

"Amy!" He yelled, as he moved his wheelchair forward as hard and fast as he could. His mind was elsewhere, when the wheels of his chair hit the door jam hard. The momentum forced his half useless body out of his chair. His face smacked the floor hard, and he felt blood trickle from his nose.

"Hey, Ty, what the hell are you doing?" Tim questioned, forcing Ty to roll his eyes.

The pain in his face forgotten for the moment. The pain throbbing from stomach ignored. His only thought was getting to Amy quickly, before what he said had time to fester. "Help me up." Ty gritted out, the movement of his mouth causing his nose to throb uncomfortably.

"Not until you tell me why my daughter just ran from the bathroom like someone tried to shoot her." Tim answered, and from his position on the floor, Ty could barely make out Tim's arms crossing over his chest.

"That is really none of your business. It's between me and Amy. I plan on rectifying it, just as soon as you help me the hell up." Ty bit back. His frustration from earlier returning.

"Not with that attitude." Tim answered, before walking away.

"Dammit, Tim!" Ty yelled, moving past frustration and diving head first into anger.

"Dad, what's going on?" Amy asked, tear streaks present on her cheeks, but the tears had stopped for the moment. Amy turned the corner and saw Ty sprawled out on the floor with blood leaking onto the floor. "Ty!" She whispered. "Oh God, are you okay?"

Ty peered up at her through the cover of his brown hair. His anger forgotten for the moment, as the apology sat in his eyes, but his mouth opened to speak the words. "I'm so sorry. I am just so frustrated all the time. Forgive me?" he asked softly.

Amy nodded, "I understand, Ty. I do, it's just - it does hurt. Your words."

Ty offered her a small, sad smile. "I know. I'll try to be better."

Amy mimicked his smile, "Now, let's get you back into your chair, and get your face cleaned up." Amy paused, "Dad, can you give me a hand."

"Has he got his attitude in check? I don't help anyone that gives me lip."

Amy stood up, "I don't want to hear it, dad! At least Ty is trying. You were ten times worse than Ty ever thought about being when you hurt your back. Just ask grandpa."

Tim stood up, "Yeah, see that's the thing. Jack lies. Now, if you excuse me, I have more important things to do. Things that don't involve waiting on someone that doesn't appreciate it."

Amy glared at her father's retreating form. "We don't need him." Amy finally said, before flipping Ty's wheel chair back over.


	5. Hearts That Bleed

It had been just a little over a week since Ty had been released from the hospital. The progress was slow moving, and every day he seemed to get just a little bit more frustrated than the last. Not just with the fact that it seemed like nothing had changed over the past week, but the fact that Amy hadn't even been able to look him in the eye since he exploded on her. He had tried to apologize, more than once, and every single time she said that it was fine. Yet, it was the way she said it. The tone of her voice, the fact that she had stared down at the floor, and the slight quiver of her hands.

It was really startingto eat at him. He honestly felt horrible about yelling at her – saying the horrible things that he had said, but what else could he do?

"How did your therapy session go?" Jack asked suddenly, causing Ty's head to swivel toward the older man.

They had left the hospital nearly twenty minutes ago, and Ty had been quite fine with leaving the truck in silence. However, it appeared that Jack had other plans. Like making him talk. Ty had found out a few days after, what he was now referring to as the _situation_, that Tim had told Jack about his outburst. Jack had confronted him about it, and his poor attitude following that outburst. After that, Jack hadn't brought it up again. However, Ty knew that Jack had been watching him and Amy like a hawk, and Ty was pretty sure that the awkwardness between the two of them hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Slow. Agonizingly slow." Ty mumbled, as he let his head flop against the passenger side window.

"You'll get there, Ty. The doctor seems convinced that you'll walk again. You just need to take it slow. No need risking further injury, right?" Jack asked softly.

"I guess..." Ty trailed off as he stiffened slightly. He hated talking about his feelings to anyone, but Jack had this fatherly-like way of making Ty spill his guts. Even if he didn't want to.

"Out with it already." Jack growled, when Ty didn't continue what he was saying.

"I guess, I'm just sick of feeling useless. Of watching you and Caleb bust your asses and breaking your backs to pick up the extra work. Not to mention the fact that I have to put off vet school for the foreseeable future. I can't work with Scott. All I do is sit in that damn chair all day long, watching everyone else do something useful."

Jack sighed, he knew that it was more than just the slow progress that Ty was making in rehab. He just didn't realize how bad it was getting. The doctor had warned him before that Ty would get down on himself, that he might even start to become angry and frustrated with those around him. Jack had just hoped that Ty was strong enough to overcome those feelings. Not that he blamed Ty. Hell, Jack was nearly certain he would feel the exact same way if he was in Ty's shoes.

"That's understandable, Ty. I have an idea. I need to talk it over with some of the others, but I think that maybe this might help you feel a little better. You just need to be patient with me."

Ty offered Jack a small smile. He would take whatever he could get, he just wished that Jack would give him some information on what exactly it was that he was planning.

* * *

Ty held the wheels of his chair tightly in his hands as he carefully wheeled himself toward the stable. As he came around the corner, he saw her. He couldn't deny her beauty, even if he wanted to. The way the sun seemed to glint off her hair. A smile formed on his lips, as he became lost in thought of her blue eyes shining as she worked with a new horse. The small, proud smile that crossed her lips every time she was able to help whichever horse came through Heartland. That, he realized, was what had made him fall for her. His arms seized up tightly, causing his wheels to lock almost immediately. Ty's body jerked forward, but he wasn't focused on the pain that he felt. Instead all he could think about was the fact that he had just admitted, if only to himself, that he had fallen in love with Amy Fleming. He had tried to deny it, tried to explain it away as simple attraction and yet he knew that it wasn't the truth. It wasn't instantaneous. In fact, the first time he met Amy, he didn't much care for her or her attitude. No, it had been a few days later when he had watched her working with Spartan. How gentle she was, and the way she refused to give up. That had been the first step.

"Ty, are you okay?" Amy asked, as he's attention came back to the present. He looked up and locked eyes with Amy. It was then that he felt the pain coursing through his body. His eyebrows wrinkled slightly.

"Not really." Ty whispered softly, as he grimaced. Of course he felt the occasional twinge of pain in his abdomen from the surgery, but he hadn't felt pain like this in the lower half of his body since he woke up in the hospital. "It hurts." The words came out as a muffled whimper.

"What hurts, Ty?" Amy asked, as she knelt down in front of him. She could see the pain laced in his eyes, but it was the small glimmer of hope and wonder that had her curious. It was something she hadn't seen in Ty's eyes since his accident.

"My back – my legs. They hurt." This time his voice held a bit of the hope that had only been present in his eyes. "That's a good thing, right? That I feel the pain?"

Amy ran her fingers through her long, blonde hair. Was it a good thing? The doctor hadn't spoken to them about pain, but he had mentioned that any sensation or feeling in the lower half of his body was progress. "Look, I'm going to grab grandpa. Don't move. I don't want to risk you hurting yourself, okay?" She waited until Ty nodded his head, before she stood up. As she walked past Ty's wheelchair, she placed her hand on his shoulder and squeezed. Once she let go of Ty's shoulder, she ran toward the house. Amy tried with everything inside of her to not let herself hope that all of this was progress. That he would be out of that chair and walking on his own in no time.

"Grandpa!" Amy cried, as she burst through the door.

"Amy! What's wrong?" Jack asked, as he ran into the kitchen.

She took a deep breath to steady her voice before she spoke. "Grandpa, it's Ty. He's in pain."

Jack's nose wrinkled slightly, "Is it his stomach? I've told him to be careful. Those stitches come out in a week."

Amy shook her head, "No. It's his back and legs. He stopped his wheelchair abruptly and it jerked his body around really hard. I asked him if he was alright, and he said that he was hurting."

Jack's eyebrows wrinkled. "You bring him in here. Make sure that you push the chair, don't let him. I'll call the doctor. I don't want to rush him back to the hospital if it's nothing to worry about, but I don't want to treat it as nothing and have him injuring himself worse."

Amy nodded, "Okay, grandpa."

* * *

Amy tucked Ty's comforter under his chin, and offered him a small smile. Dr. Cartwright had driven out to the ranch to check on Ty, after Jack called him, worried about the sudden pain that Ty was feeling. After he was assured that Ty hadn't injured himself again, Dr. Cartwright explained that Ty feeling pain was definitely a step in the right direction. That with any sort of feeling in the lower half of his body, meant that his spine was starting to heal. That the damage was being fixed, and that if Ty stayed on his current path of rehabilitation that he could be walking again within a few months.

Ty made a move to sit up, but Amy put light pressure on his shoulder to keep him lying back against his pillow. "You heard what the doctor said, Ty. You need to rest."

He sighed, "The Doctor said the pain was a good sign, Amy, and it's not even dark outside. I'm not tired. I don't want to just lay in bed all day."

Amy's lips puckered, the doctor's words still ringing in her ears. "He also said that you should rest and relax the rest of the day avoid further injury. Grandpa and Lou agree that you should be in bed."

Ty grumbled lightly, but he couldn't fight her on what she deemed right. Aside from the fact that he hated to just lay around, he was really sore and the pain pill that the doctor had prescribed him was starting to work it's way through his body. Even as he spoke the words of not being tired, he could feel his eyes start to burn and sting. Before long they would be pulling close, and it would be easier for everyone involved if he was already in bed before he fell asleep.

Amy made a move to turn to leave, when Ty's hand reached out and snatched her hand. "Will you stay? Just until I fall asleep? I don't like being alone."

Amy couldn't deny the look on his face. Instead of answering him, she merely walked around to the other side of the bed, and crawled up next to him and sat down. "I won't move a muscle until you're out of it."

Ty smiled sheepishly, "Thanks, Amy. I know I haven't been the easiest person to be around lately and I truly am sorry for anything and everything I might've said to upset you or your family."

Amy shrugged her shoulders. "To be honest, Ty. I forgave you last week about that. I won't lie. It hurt – it still hurts, because I know that deep down you do blame me. That's why I've kept my distance from you. Because it's so hard to look at you, and to see you smile at me all the while knowing that you blame me for your accident. I'm not saying that you're wrong, because you're not. It is my fault. I didn't take appropriate precautions, and because of that, you were injured. I just hope that you will eventually be able to forgive me."

Ty sighed. When he had said that he didn't blame her, he thought he meant it. He wanted to mean it, but his outburst, even if it was to get her to leave him alone, had some truth to it. It was after he had yelled at her, that he realized on some level he did blame her. Even if he still couldn't remember exactly what had happened, he figured he was the most to blame. Ty realized that he had to have done something stupid to cause the horse to lose it. Even if there wasn't a proper warning on his stall, Ty realized he never should have handle a horse he knew nothing about.

"I won't lie to you, Amy. So, I mean this when I say that I don't fully blame you. I don't want to blame you at all. You didn't force me to pull Davidson from his stall. I did that on my own. So obviously, I am the one to blame for everything that's happened. Yet, I can't sit here and say that I don't blame you, because it's not true. On some level, I guess I do blame you, I just don't know why. Nothing that happened was your fault. Even if you didn't put the proper information on Davidson's stall, I never should have taken him out to the round pen to begin with. I knew nothing about him. I didn't know what would set him off, and yet I did it anyway. All the blame should be on me, and I wish that it was..."

Amy laid her head back against the headboard, and turned it towards Ty. "It's okay, Ty. I forgive you."


End file.
